Treating an illness or condition without understanding its underlying causes isn’t healing at all. It’s just masking the symptoms until they flare up again or get worse. If you have chronic pain or another ailment that won’t go away no matter how aggressively you treat it, it’s time to take a look at functional medicine.
If this term is new to you, you might wonder how different it is from traditional medicine or if it’s a legitimate field. Rest assured that functional medicine has scientific backing. Increasingly, patients are seeking this relatively new form of care due to its ability to identify the underlying causes of many chronic conditions. Instead of just masking symptoms, functional medicine identifies and addresses the underlying causes of common ailments, enabling patients to achieve lasting relief.
We’ll explore what functional medicine is, who practices it, and discuss its rightful place in the medical field.
What Is Functional Medicine?
Many people often discuss integrative and functional medicine interchangeably, as these areas are closely related. However, what distinguishes functional medicine is that its purpose is to identify the root causes of disease using a systems approach.
The functional medicine model is based on the notion that numerous factors, including genetics, physiology, behavioral choices, environment, and mental health, influence your well-being. Any condition or illness you incur is the result of how these factors interact with each other.
If you experience symptoms consistent with chronic asthma, the functional medicine model addresses diagnosis and treatment by targeting imbalances within the body. To effectively treat your asthma, a functional medical practitioner in your area must first identify the contributing factors that prompt your body to respond the way it does. They would particularly investigate potential triggers, such as
- Toxins or allergens in your home or physical environment
- Food sensitivities or allergies
- Chronic inflammation
- Imbalances in your gut microbiome
- Chronic stress
- Nutritional deficiencies
To a functional practitioner, asthma doesn’t just happen in the lungs. Instead, it’s a condition triggered by multiple factors that act systemically to bring about your respiratory symptoms. Knowing which triggers set off your asthma helps your doctor devise a personalized treatment regimen that does more than make your breathing easier. It targets those imbalances in your entire body to restore your health and prevent or mitigate future symptoms.
What Is a Functional Medicine Doctor?
Qualified functional medical practitioners hold Doctor of Medicine (MD) or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) degrees and are licensed to practice medicine. Furthermore, these physicians have taken additional years of training, typically in functional and integrative healthcare, enabling them to apply the patient-centered care that characterizes this specialty.
Your functional medicine doctor is trained to examine you and your condition from a whole-body perspective. They are patient-centered in that they treat you like a partner in your healthcare, not just a set of symptoms. They’ll take their time and ask you detailed questions about your lifestyle, medical history, current concerns, and what you want to accomplish from your medical visit. They’ll use this information to make personalized recommendations and create a comprehensive treatment plan that’s unique to you.
The best functional medical doctors in Cincinnati don’t practice medicine in isolation. Instead, they collaborate with other holistic and functional specialists to provide comprehensive care to their patients. Whether you need dietary guidance from a nutrition expert or platelet-rich plasma injections from a regenerative medicine provider, your provider ensures a team approach to give you the individualized care you need to meet your health goals.
Does Functional Medicine Work?
As previously mentioned, qualified doctors like Dr. Hal Blatman who practice functional medicine in Cincinnati have the same credentials as any licensed physician, plus the additional training required for their specialty. These professionals only use empirically verified therapies and techniques, which speaks to their efficacy.
Functional medicine has been linked with improvements in health-related quality of life, according to a study conducted at the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine. More specifically, study participants reported better physical health outcomes after receiving care from the Center, compared to patients in more traditional medical settings.
Other researchers have validated the effectiveness of functional medicine by administering the widely validated Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS). This tool has consistently demonstrated that, compared to conventional approaches, functional medicine is more clinically valuable and cost-effective in treating conditions such as inflammatory arthritis, thyroiditis, and other chronic or complex disorders.
Whole-Person Healing Starts with Functional Medicine in Cincinnati
By treating the patient as a whole person and addressing the underlying causes of disease, functional medicine targets illnesses at their sources, providing long-term relief and effectively reducing symptoms. If you are seeking a root-cause approach to healthcare through functional medicine in Cincinnati or New York, contact us at Blatman Health and Wellness Center. Stop being treated like a collection of symptoms and start receiving care as a whole person. Contact us today to get answers to your questions or schedule your initial appointment.